Weblog entry #323 for simonw
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#323
Hitachi and SATA backwards compatibility
Posted by simonw on Fri 1 May 2009 at 14:23
Plugged in SATA drive as replacement in a PC, BIOS failed to recognize it.
Seems some old SATA version 1 chipsets don't negotiate SATA version 2 drives into playing with them.
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/page-243507_14_0.html
In this PC it was a VT8237 chipset, which Ubuntu claims is a VT6420 SATA RAID Controller (hmm).
The article says Hitachi drives are without a jumper, Hitachi support suggested using Feature Tool.
http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm#FeatureTool
Unfortunately the drive had already been sent back, for one with a jumper on I could set, so I've no idea if it works. But hey one to file away in the brain, as the Hitachi drive was definitely better value - we lost 90GB in switching brands.
Seems some old SATA version 1 chipsets don't negotiate SATA version 2 drives into playing with them.
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/page-243507_14_0.html
In this PC it was a VT8237 chipset, which Ubuntu claims is a VT6420 SATA RAID Controller (hmm).
The article says Hitachi drives are without a jumper, Hitachi support suggested using Feature Tool.
http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm#FeatureTool
Unfortunately the drive had already been sent back, for one with a jumper on I could set, so I've no idea if it works. But hey one to file away in the brain, as the Hitachi drive was definitely better value - we lost 90GB in switching brands.